Hi all. New member/first post. Been catering barbecue since 2012 with an ugly drum and a stick burner. We are now doing a ghost kitchen and launched a food truck. Looking to streamline the labor side of our operation at the smoker.
I found an SM250 from 2005, and they are asking 2k.
Any advice or opinions are much appreciated. Thanks!!
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Not experienced in commercial smoking but it looks like a large version of my SM066. It makes great BBQ, but don't count on doing sausage easily. Also, the heating profile is in no way uniform vertically, count on rotating a large load during cooking which of course extends cooking time. No opinion on the price but to note the SM260 sells for $8125. Suggest you compare capabilities and the condition of the unit you want to buy. Good luck!
They key is to insure the box itself is in great shape. If it is what few components make up the smoker are few and easily replaceable. The most expensive piece is the controller ($1k). Do a search for SM250 on Cookshack site to see what the various components cost if you have to replace anything (see link below). Based on the age and if it has all original parts maybe offer $1500-1200 due to age. Still not a bad buy at $2k as long as the box is in great shape.
https://cookshack.com/search?t...product&q=sm250*
I picked up recently an SM150 with a pristine box but needed a little electrical work for a few hundred $. It all works with the exception of the display which has a small portion not working. I may eventually replace the controller.
Been using my SM250 for 5 years in March. Bought it used for 1000 and had to put 2 new elements and a relay in five years. It will have a bit of learning curve but does better briskets than the stick burner. Biggest mistake will be putting too many chunks in the wood box. Briskets come out perfect with 2.5-3 oz of hickory and pecan chunks per 40-45 lbs for meat. Consistency is almost perfect between loads.
I just bought an '04 for 1600, came with new element and gaskets. Fired it up back at the kitchen, all seems well. Question: I was short on time (day off), and the racks weren't in, but i set the temp to 225, and laid my thermo prob on top of the burn baffle. Is it normal that it read 375-400 even after 20-30 minutes, because of where the probe was placed?
I am an alto shaam guy, a liitle worried about the uneven cooking.
Thanks!
Pretty normal. Put your rack in it closest to the probe sticking out from the back of the cabinet. With no meat in it to absorb the heat you should see 20 ish degrees plus or minus. This will just be from the heating elements cycling. Just remember with it having such a big cabinet to hold heat that light loads of meat in the smoker will cook faster than you think. Don’t overload and leave a bit of room between whatever your cooking to allow the heat to rise.
Uncle DT the temps do spike a bit at first and get more gradual as time passes for the smoke. Hotter at first getting to temp and getting the wood going. But it shouldn’t swing that high. I would put try to run it again and place your probe on top against the back wall. If you have your probe close to the fire box on the edges where the heat rises it may give you a reading like that. Load your food starting on the top and work your way down.
Thanks everybody!